Since I've gotten here, I've noticed some funny stuff, like the verbal idiosyncrasies of what seems like an entire nation. The first one I noticed before I even got over here, when I was on the phone with the guy who was guiding me through the visa process. I don't remember the exact content of his sentence, but he included the word "obvious" into it, when in fact what he was saying wasn't very obvious at all. It was the whole reason I was calling in the first place, which was to confirm that what I was about to send in as supplementary materials to my application was correct, since the appropriate websites in the US and UK are confusing and contradictory. Once I got here, I noticed this little habit in a lot of other people, too--marking obscure observations as obvious. I find it quite condescending and just wrong.
One that happens even more often, though, is marking things as literal in order to intensify an expression. Very occasionally, it so happens that the speaker says something literally--or LI'trally, as they say it here--but usually if you give the slightest second thought to what was said, it turns out to be fantastically incorrect. For example, "When she told me that, my head LI'trally exploded!" I complained about this to Ed recently, and then I started saying it to him in the way that his folk say it, and he HATES it. He LI'trally hates it. He told me yesterday he mentioned these two items to his coworkers (colleagues) and now everybody is super guilty when they say it. And well they should be, I said.
Of course, neither of these would be that big of a deal if the British weren't so high and mighty about the alleged "purity" of British English and how it's AMERICANS who are butchering the language. Just yesterday I was reading a book for my dissertation that mentioned a British author who got all pissed at Americans for changing the pronunciation from CONtroversy to conTROVersy, and somehow this got published in a work of his, when of course what the real story there is (at least in the vast majority of cases, presumably) that Americans not only don't pronounce it like that, but may have never heard that pronunciation. It's the British who have recently made that change, but because it's new, it's associated with American linguistic innovation, and therefore rejected.
On a lighter note, when I first got here, I would sometimes see this sign called DIVERSION, and my first thought would be, aren't diversions supposed to be secret in their nature? But then of course (I mean, obviously) I realized that DIVERSION meant DETOUR. Haha.
Another funny sign is HEAVY PLANT CROSSING, which took a long time of wondering about and Ed having to tell me twice what it meant before it stayed in my mind. What I was picturing initially was Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors dragging his giant pot across the street, with a little potbelly stem from drinking too much warm lager. What HEAVY PLANT really refers to is what we'd probably call heavy machinery--the kind on wheels. How disappointing.
One final thing to mention today is Hugh Grant. When I first got here, for some reason it felt like someone would talk about Hugh Grant pretty much every day. I think maybe it was because I was a new arrival, and they were all expressing their expectations that I would think they would all be exactly the same as him. It occurred to me that in assuming that all Americans are obsessed with Hugh Grant, and Brits not liking that, because they think he's a twat (which rhymes with brat in these parts), Hugh Grant has become an obsession of the British. Suckaaaas.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The British Museum
A few weeks ago, we added to my museum experience by visiting the British Museum in London. This is another free museum, although they do suggest a £10 donation. That's a little steep. Anyway, we were looking online to see what was going on over there, and I was very excited (you know, for me) to find that they are currently hosting the Rosetta Stone and the mummy of Cleopatra. So we were off within ten minutes of finding that out.
Here are a couple establishing shots:
When you get into the museum, there's a big foyer area, which opens up into a hugeass atrium. The picture below shows only part of it.
I think we took this picture of the museum floor plan to have as a reference in case we needed one in our wanderings, but it's pretty cool, so I'm including it here. It gives you a slightly better idea how big the atrium is, since it's multiple times bigger than any of the exhibition rooms. The circle in the center holds another room for a special exhibit, which you have to pay a ton for, so we didn't go. I think the current one had something to do with angels, but I don't remember...
Anyway, our hope was to see the areas for Ancient Egypt and Greece, as well as Asia, maybe the Americas, and then I think there were also some special science-related exhibits that sounded cool, too. Since we didn't leave Brighton until maybe almost noon, and had to stop and have a nice lunch once we got to London because I was starving, that only left us with about three hours to explore. Thus, only Egypt and Greece were gotten.
Here's the Rosetta Stone. It was the very first thing we saw when we walked into the first room. Naturally, there were many people taking pictures of it. I think it's kind of sad, though, that most people would snap a shot of it, having heard of it, and move on, not bothering to read the several pages of information on display all around the case. What's the point of going to the museum if you don't learn something?
Here are a bunch of Egyptian statues and stuff. We spent too much time here, taking pictures and reading stuff. Ed had to urge me along.
I don't think this is part of the Sphinx's nose, contrary to what the images next to it seem to suggest.
This guy.
This is me, excited and shit:
Next was Ancient Greece. I took this picture of the floor plan of Minos' palace, because I like the floor plan. The labeling leaves something to be desired, though. Mostly blanks in there, although I guess they only label stuff if they have enough evidence to assume the purpose of a room.
Although I didn't take any pictures of the jewelry, we played this game where I would choose which one I would take if I had the choice. Truth be told, though, I wouldn't pay for any of it. Ancient, handmade jewelry is crap.
In contrast to Egypt, there were quite a lot of miniatures in Greece.
Some of them seemed to have been made by children, or Homo erectus.
Heads will roll.
The title of this one refers to it as one sneaking up on Aphrodite bathing. As if you could sneak up on a goddess.
Rooster.
There's always room for K-I-T-T-Y, though. These are mummified Egyptian cats. We done got back into Egypt somehow. I think my mom might get ideas about preserving her cats when The End comes.
As they say around these parts, inside these wrappings is LI'-trally the mummy of Cleopatra. I didn't know she was so young when she started her reign. (Update: I'm now watching a documentary on the murder of Cleopatra's sister that says they never found any physical evidence of this family. I looked back on the website for the British Museum, and apparently this chick was Cleopatra of Thebes, not Cleopatra VII, and lived 150 years later than the famous one. I guess because it was so crowded in there and I had to crouch down to see this thing, I didn't really get a good look at the info card.)
We took a picture of this guy because he looks Vulcan, and I think I specifically said he looks kind of like Spock's dad, Sarek.
Here's a reconstruction from a skull. Neato.
Miniarcophagi? Minicophagi? Sarcophaginiatures?
So that was all fun. I would like to go again to see what we missed, but seeing other places might have to come first. In other news, I'm going with Ed to North Cyprus tomorrow for a week, so I'll have plenty to talk about when I get back. I also made us a reservation to go into the Stone Circle at Stonehenge in late August, so something else to look forward to.
Here are a couple establishing shots:
When you get into the museum, there's a big foyer area, which opens up into a hugeass atrium. The picture below shows only part of it.
I think we took this picture of the museum floor plan to have as a reference in case we needed one in our wanderings, but it's pretty cool, so I'm including it here. It gives you a slightly better idea how big the atrium is, since it's multiple times bigger than any of the exhibition rooms. The circle in the center holds another room for a special exhibit, which you have to pay a ton for, so we didn't go. I think the current one had something to do with angels, but I don't remember...
Anyway, our hope was to see the areas for Ancient Egypt and Greece, as well as Asia, maybe the Americas, and then I think there were also some special science-related exhibits that sounded cool, too. Since we didn't leave Brighton until maybe almost noon, and had to stop and have a nice lunch once we got to London because I was starving, that only left us with about three hours to explore. Thus, only Egypt and Greece were gotten.
Here's the Rosetta Stone. It was the very first thing we saw when we walked into the first room. Naturally, there were many people taking pictures of it. I think it's kind of sad, though, that most people would snap a shot of it, having heard of it, and move on, not bothering to read the several pages of information on display all around the case. What's the point of going to the museum if you don't learn something?
Here are a bunch of Egyptian statues and stuff. We spent too much time here, taking pictures and reading stuff. Ed had to urge me along.
I don't think this is part of the Sphinx's nose, contrary to what the images next to it seem to suggest.
This guy.
This is me, excited and shit:
These guys are cool, because they're not supposed to be viewed obliquely, since that gives them five legs. Of course, we had to take the picture at an angle, to show that.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Next was Ancient Greece. I took this picture of the floor plan of Minos' palace, because I like the floor plan. The labeling leaves something to be desired, though. Mostly blanks in there, although I guess they only label stuff if they have enough evidence to assume the purpose of a room.
Although I didn't take any pictures of the jewelry, we played this game where I would choose which one I would take if I had the choice. Truth be told, though, I wouldn't pay for any of it. Ancient, handmade jewelry is crap.
In contrast to Egypt, there were quite a lot of miniatures in Greece.
Some of them seemed to have been made by children, or Homo erectus.
Heads will roll.
Actually, a lot of the large statues' heads were missing, tragically.
The title of this one refers to it as one sneaking up on Aphrodite bathing. As if you could sneak up on a goddess.
Rooster.
There were a bunch of miniatures of malformities in humans, but for some reason I don't have any pictures of the weirdest ones. I think were were photoed out by then.
As they say around these parts, inside these wrappings is LI'-trally the mummy of Cleopatra. I didn't know she was so young when she started her reign. (Update: I'm now watching a documentary on the murder of Cleopatra's sister that says they never found any physical evidence of this family. I looked back on the website for the British Museum, and apparently this chick was Cleopatra of Thebes, not Cleopatra VII, and lived 150 years later than the famous one. I guess because it was so crowded in there and I had to crouch down to see this thing, I didn't really get a good look at the info card.)
We took a picture of this guy because he looks Vulcan, and I think I specifically said he looks kind of like Spock's dad, Sarek.
Here's a reconstruction from a skull. Neato.
Miniarcophagi? Minicophagi? Sarcophaginiatures?
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Arundel Castle
In Maine, there is a little town called Arundel, which is pronounced uh-RUN-deul. There is also a little town in England called Arundel, but I get laughed at if I pronounce it the same way. Here, it's AHR-run-deul. La di da. It's not too far from Brighton, and I hadn't seen any castles in these parts yet, so Ed and I went in April to czech it out.
Here's me at the ol' train station, waiting for our second train, since AHR-run-deul is inconveniently located with respect to Brighton and the rail lines.
Establishing shot of castle. Ain't it purdy? It's wicked old, from 1067, but it's been restored since then.
Next to this part were a bunch of tents with kind of a Medieval Times/Renaissance Faire thing going, but we didn't go over to see any of their smithery or hear any of their stories.
Acceptable.
Once up in the castle keep or somewhere, we could get a nice little view of the areas we didn't pay to get into. It's kind of like an amusement park. If you want to do only the crappy little kid rides, then you pay the base price. Then for better rides, you go to the Silver Package; for better rides and a restaurant coupon, the Gold Package; and for better rides, a restaurant coupon, and access to the bathroom, the Platinum Package. Except naturally, in a castle, it's whether or not you want to see the keep, certain bedrooms and living areas, dungeon, and so on (but of course you have to piss down a hole in the side of the castle). We opted for the Silver Package. Yea.
Here's me, like enjoying myself.
I'm pointing to where the arrow goes.
Since Ed is escairt of heights, I went around the top of the keep alone, and took these shots:
I don't know what this building is. It's nice.
Ed waiting for me:
Next we walked around the grounds and found the little chapel. I was reminded of the Queen of Hearts' garden before the roses got painted red.
I'm recalling that we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the chapel, and inside the castle, too, for that matter. Instead, we took note of all the Jebuses inside the chapel, and how small the people buried there were, based on their grave statues (get it, GRAVE statues for dead people?) Then we left and continued walking the grounds.
Outside the chapel was a little path that was very obviously supposed to be walked on, but as I was met by a locked gate at the end, I found it was meant for employees and such to walk on, not visitors. I took this picture anyway. Neener neener.
There are a bunch of gardens on the castle grounds, which our package allowed us to see. They were cute. This little stonezebo had nice patio furniture inside, clearly meant to tantalize lowly plebes like us, since the inside was roped off.
We're having FUN, DAMMIT.
Dude, this thing was like the weirdest fountain ever. It has that background of rocks and/or shells or something, and a rock base, with a geyser fountain, which could be fine, except that it has that awful rotating crown on the top. What were they thinking?
There were more gardens than this, but apparently we stopped taking photos. You know what gardens look like, though. I think I remember seeing they were growing organic produce in some sections of the place, which is neato. They also had a couple of those Precious Moments fountains with spouting cherubs, heh.
We didn't get there until like three in the afternoon, which only left us a couple hours to wander around. We went to the gift shop and I kind of wanted to buy something, but nothing I could afford and easily transport back to the States struck me. Ed got a pencil so we could do a crossword on the train back. Then we got some ice cream at a corner store. It was on one of those double-headed cones, and that was fun.
This is a picture of a field. I think we took a picture of it because there were some bunnies in it. Either that or Ed was trying to take my picture and completely missed. You can see my shoulder.
But it was getting towards supper time, so I couldn't stay to watch the bunnies.
Here's me at the ol' train station, waiting for our second train, since AHR-run-deul is inconveniently located with respect to Brighton and the rail lines.
Establishing shot of castle. Ain't it purdy? It's wicked old, from 1067, but it's been restored since then.
Next to this part were a bunch of tents with kind of a Medieval Times/Renaissance Faire thing going, but we didn't go over to see any of their smithery or hear any of their stories.
Once up in the castle keep or somewhere, we could get a nice little view of the areas we didn't pay to get into. It's kind of like an amusement park. If you want to do only the crappy little kid rides, then you pay the base price. Then for better rides, you go to the Silver Package; for better rides and a restaurant coupon, the Gold Package; and for better rides, a restaurant coupon, and access to the bathroom, the Platinum Package. Except naturally, in a castle, it's whether or not you want to see the keep, certain bedrooms and living areas, dungeon, and so on (but of course you have to piss down a hole in the side of the castle). We opted for the Silver Package. Yea.
Here's me, like enjoying myself.
I'm pointing to where the arrow goes.
Since Ed is escairt of heights, I went around the top of the keep alone, and took these shots:
I don't know what this building is. It's nice.
Next we walked around the grounds and found the little chapel. I was reminded of the Queen of Hearts' garden before the roses got painted red.
I'm recalling that we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the chapel, and inside the castle, too, for that matter. Instead, we took note of all the Jebuses inside the chapel, and how small the people buried there were, based on their grave statues (get it, GRAVE statues for dead people?) Then we left and continued walking the grounds.
Outside the chapel was a little path that was very obviously supposed to be walked on, but as I was met by a locked gate at the end, I found it was meant for employees and such to walk on, not visitors. I took this picture anyway. Neener neener.
There are a bunch of gardens on the castle grounds, which our package allowed us to see. They were cute. This little stonezebo had nice patio furniture inside, clearly meant to tantalize lowly plebes like us, since the inside was roped off.
We're having FUN, DAMMIT.
Dude, this thing was like the weirdest fountain ever. It has that background of rocks and/or shells or something, and a rock base, with a geyser fountain, which could be fine, except that it has that awful rotating crown on the top. What were they thinking?
There were more gardens than this, but apparently we stopped taking photos. You know what gardens look like, though. I think I remember seeing they were growing organic produce in some sections of the place, which is neato. They also had a couple of those Precious Moments fountains with spouting cherubs, heh.
We didn't get there until like three in the afternoon, which only left us a couple hours to wander around. We went to the gift shop and I kind of wanted to buy something, but nothing I could afford and easily transport back to the States struck me. Ed got a pencil so we could do a crossword on the train back. Then we got some ice cream at a corner store. It was on one of those double-headed cones, and that was fun.
This is a picture of a field. I think we took a picture of it because there were some bunnies in it. Either that or Ed was trying to take my picture and completely missed. You can see my shoulder.
But it was getting towards supper time, so I couldn't stay to watch the bunnies.
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